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Synonyms

Feminist theory; Gender differences theory; Identity theory

Definition

Gender theory is the study of what is understood as masculine and/or feminine and/or queer behavior in any given context, community, society, or field of study (including, but not limited to, literature, history, sociology, education, applied linguistics, religion, health sciences, philosophy, cultural studies). The term sex refers to categories of the biologically observable human body, female and male or intersex (i.e., nature), while the term gender refers to the categories of social expectations, roles, and behaviors, feminine and masculine (i.e., what is nurtured). Some argue, however, that even biological sex is socially constructed and that masculine and feminine behaviors may be rooted in physiology as well (Halberstam, 1998; Fausto-Sterling, 2000). The word gender can also be used as a morphological form in some languages (such as the masculine or feminineused for syntactic meaning in French),...

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Correspondence to Allyson Jule .

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© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Jule, A. (2014). Gender Theory. In: Michalos, A.C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_1137

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_1137

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-007-0752-8

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